Elementary, Dear Data
' |image= |series= |production=40272-129 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Brian Alan Lane |director=Rob Bowman |imdbref=tt0708704 |guests= |previous_production=Where Silence Has Lease |next_production=The Outrageous Okona |episode=TNG B03 |airdate=3 December 1988 |previous_release=Where Silence Has Lease |next_release=The Outrageous Okona |story_date(s)=Stardate 42286.3 |previous_story=Where Silence Has Lease |next_story=The Outrageous Okona }} =Summary= With the Enterprise idle for three days awaiting a rendezvous, La Forge talks Data into indulging his fascination for Sherlock Holmes with a visit to the holodeck, where the android can play Holmes to La Forge's Watson. Data takes to the idea with relish, but it's not quite as good as advertised- owing to Data's having memorized the entire text of the Holmes adventures, he immediately solves the crime. Dr. Pulaski overhears the problem while in Ten Forward, and quickly becomes involved, as she is still not convinced that Data is more than a machine. She devises a test: they shall program to create a new mystery in the Holmes style, and it will be up to Data to finish the investigation. The three re-visit the holodeck, where La Forge, in the course of programming the new adventure, tells the computer to create an adversary worthy of defeating Data. This rather innocuous command has an unfortunate side effect: it allows the Moriarty character in the program to achieve consciousness. Having been granted such consciousness, Moriarty is no longer content to exist purely in the holodeck, he wants to explore the universe for himself. To that end, he kidnaps Pulaski and constructs a device that allows him to control the ship from the holodeck. Picard, decked out in top hat and tails, enters the holodeck in order to convince Moriarty that he cannot leave. Faced with reality, Moriarty relents and allows himself to be stored in the computer's active memory until such time as he can exist outside the holodeck. =Errors and Explanations= Plot Oversights # At one point Data has the computer construct a story in the Holmesian style to prove to Pulaski that he can deduce the answer to an unknown mystery. He, she, and La Forge then enter the holodeck, and Data quickly comes to the right conclusion. Pulaski denounces the victory as a fraud, stating that Data merely recognized the various elements that the computer picked from different Sherlock Holmes stories. Frustrated, La Forge marches to the holodeck exit and calls for the arch. The scene changes to show us Moriarty watching the trio. Apparently he sees the arch. How can Moriarty see the arch? La Forge hasn't instructed the computer to create an adversary that can defeat Data yet. He is curious about the way Data (as Holmes) and La Forge (as Watson) are behaving. Internet Movie Database Incorrectly regarded as goofs # When a murder occurs, the police inspector calls Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (Data and LaForge). But Holmes and Watson were not members of the London Police, and had no business being at a crime-scene. (IMDB) This was a running gag of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, and this continuing irony was the sticking point for Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard, who was repeatedly made to look like a fool by Holmes. # Moriarty hands Data a piece of paper upon which is a sketch of the Enterprise. Data immediately storms off the holodeck, and shows the paper to LaForge. As the paper was holographic, it should have vanished the moment it was removed from the holodeck. (IMDB) Other episodes have established that some objects (such as food) are actually replicated within the holodeck, and thus are "real" (i.e. not holographic), depending on the needs of the program and its user. Plot holes # The computer tells the senior staff that the override protocol was initiated under the authority of Lt La Forge. So La Forge has the authority to shut it down but no such attempt nor its aftermath are shown. Only Data was shown as unable to shutdown the holodeck. Moriarty could have aotomatically usurped La Forge's authority when he became self aware. Nit Central # Keith Alan Morgan on Monday, April 19, 1999 - 09:19 am: Maybe I just heard wrong, but I thought Picard said they would rendezvous with the Victory in 2 days, then later Data says 3 days. The crew of the Victory could have informed Enterprise of an additional delay between the two statements. # Moriarty claims that he is no longer evil, but he later holds the ship hostage in Ship in a Bottle. 'He was acting out of frustration, due to the crew 'forgetting' about him during the intervening period. ''Mike Konczewski on Monday, April 19, 1999 - 02:35 pm: Moriarty's actions in Ship in a Bottle were based on self-preservation, but not inherently evil. After all, Picard had promised to help him out of his predicament at the end of this episode, then never gave it another thought. ''' Category:The Next Generation Category:Episodes